his jobs council? we tackle this and more house republicans finally unveil their new debt ceiling deal. we examine the good combat command ugly with americans for tax reform president grover norquist later. one ohio teacher said she has a crippling fear of being children, but is still being forced to work with them. she says it is discrimination. we have to ask our legal team about this outrageous case. for on the case next on "the willis report." ♪ ♪ gerri: almost exactly one year ago today in this program, in this segment we told you about the president hosting a white house event and a chilling viewers he's serious about tackling unemployment. that was his job council. a combination of academics, union reps command ceos. back in unemployment was eight and a half%. today it has fallen. it has fallen, but not far enough. and i would like to tell you that the jobs council is on the case tried to drive us to zero on employment, but the truth is it is not met in the year. the 26-member panel officially known as the predent's council on jobs and competitiveness last convened on january 17

their new debt ceiling deal. we examine the good combat command ugly with americans for tax reform president grover norquist later. one ohio teacher said she has a crippling fear of being children, but is still being forced to work with them. she says it is discrimination. we have to ask our legal team about this outrageous case. for on the case next on "the willis report." ♪ at a dry cleaner, we replaced people with a machine. what? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it? hello? hello?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7, you need an ally. hello? ally bank. your money needs an ally. executor of efficiency. you can spot an amateur from a mile away... while going shoeless and metal-free in seconds. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choo any car in the aisle...and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price. now this...will work. [ ale announcer ] just like you, business pro. just like you. go naonal go like a pro. at legalzoom, we've created a better place to handle your legal needs. maybe yo

. what happens if we have another deal, a debt ceiling deal or something that is of the same milk? >> i'm sensing both -- i can see both sides of the argument with this. i understand wanting to storm the castle, but get the foot in the door first, but at the same time, people like boehner realize they are dancing on the edge of the cliff here so to speak, in trouble of losing the entire base, ultimately the goal of the admintration. they want to divorce the grassroots base from the plan party, looking two years ahead at midterm and looking at tactical issu and not the overall strategy, but a lot of this, nemo, goes back to the state level as well. who are voters going to elect to represent them in two years? how are voters holding elected officials' feet to the fire in their own state? we have to see more of that. ultimately, that's the pathway to get real change in the house, and that's really the way we're going to be able to enforce the values. neil: overcome the mainstream media, cast full of nuts and crazy and the ocupy wall street guys are the normal guys. the world's upside

that last press conference when he talked about his upcoming debt ceiling despite? he seemed a little angrier you guys. >> yes, he did. he seemed annoyed at the fact that he had to deal with a coequal branch of government. a group of pesky individuals elected by the people. >> yes, that's right. we have the audacity to insist that we follow the law and that we continue to make the law and yes, we have our work cut out for us. >> i was noticing that since 1990, we have raised the debt ceiling 18 times. back in 1990 come the first time we raised it, the debt ceiling was $3.12 trillion. the debt ceiling is raised, the spending gets raised. and it never comes back down. >> that's right, it goes up and it never comes back down. in the past, sometimes we have insisted on cuts along the way. now we're finding ourselves in a position where we have $16.5 trillion of debt and cuts are not going to cut it anymore. it has to be more than cuts. it needs to be permanent structural spending reform. that's what we need. >> what john boehner headset is dollar for dollar. spending cuts with debt ceiling heights. what should they cut? give me a list. you might we talk about it from the stan

republican party for a very hard fall on both gun control and the debt ceiling. the president simply will not offer any compromise on federal spending that might get a debt deal done. on guns as we just heard, is he threatening executive orders. so i think the president simply wants to damage the republicans rather than solve complicated problems, at least at this juncture. joining us from washington with his take fox news political analyst charles krauthammer. i see it as a chess game. rather than both parties working together to get some gun legislation that might help folks control criminals in that area and rather than getting the debt ceiling done with some, you know, meaningful cuts in spending, the president says, you know, i'm not even going to bother. i want to alienate the republicans so that people will be angry with them. am i wrong? he has been doing that since elections day, i wrote a column ever since september pointing out entire strategy for the fiscal cliff was to split the republicans. it had nothing to do his offers had nothing to do with solving the fiscal issue or solving the debt. he showed nothing to solve the debt since he was elected in 2

squabbles over the debt ceiling, buthey will not deal with the pblem in an essential way. >> i am reading robert carroll's latest book on lbj. it looked like jack kennedy was having the same problem with the congress. evererything was being sidetracked. >> that is true. i would say this as far as what senator obama said in 2006, consistency is the hobgoblin of small mes. but there was a different attitude. we have raised the debt ceiling 70-plus times. the congress has voted to do it. there was always a sense of we are not going to vote e to rai the other guys debt ceiling but there was always the understa that we would provide the votes in the final ananalysis. the president's party y did that. right now, what you have is a situation where the republican party is reduced to its lowest standing in the history of "the wall streeeet journal" nbc poll. the only thing that is worse is john boehner, 18% favorable. this is not a formidable parker. >> "politico" spoke to some unnamed republican leaders and they said that party leadaders have appeared to shut down the government to make a

be worried about the debt ceiling and yet we had word that gop controlled house might have a deal. might vote next week to raise the debt ceiling for even three months. there is a very muted reaction and what to watch here are how people are buying etfs. this is the s&p 500. you can buy it in a single stock and you might say, oh, gee, there is a move there to the far right on the upside when the announcement came. but it is a very, very narrow amplitude. very narrow range of trading. that's about three points on the s&p 500. the volume did pick up and we will have volume towards the heavy side today. if you think that is good news pushing the debt ceiling out for stocks and i think generally would you look at it as good news, it certainly is fairly muted here. as for the major indices for the week, what simon was just talking about, there are deeper cyclical changes. big industrial names have been generally outperforming and that is very good news, if you think the global economy, those stocks would more closer would the global economy. >> you get this, this real tight hugging of the fla

be part of any debt ceiling deal. that is a sentiment echoed by the president on numerous occasions since he was reelected. republicans of course in the house are set to go on their retreat this week. their key objective is to find unity. that is the ultimate object tiff for the retreat. without unity and republicans are divided in house they stand no chance of blocking any tax increases that democrats are so intent on. jenna: we'll watch in the weeks to come, doug, thank you. >> reporter: okay. jon: new troubles for boeing's airliners. troubles grounding all the 787s in japan's after one of the jets was forced to make a emergency landing today. dan springer is in seattle with the details on what happened. none of these planes have crashed, no serious injuries but still a big problem for boeing, huh? >> reporter: that's right. for more perspective, jon, worldwide there are six 787s flying. four of them left to the u.s. or coming to the u.s.. this is not a worldwide panic. this latest incident happened in western japan during a flight on all nippon airways. a warning light came on. a

the debt ceiling in 2006 so what's the deal? look this is -- 2010 -- 2011, after the 2010 election, the whole tea party wave was the first time that you saw republicans hold it hostage. and say unless you do what we want we're not raising the debt ceiling. democrats have never done that. they may have had a problem with the way the mechanics work but they never pushed an entire movement together and said we're not doing anything until you give us what you want. that's not governance. i don't think that's what any constituent wants at the end of the day. >> bill: i forget now i used to have that number at the top of my head. how many times under george w. bush -- >> 19 times. they voted 19 times. some $4 trillion they raised the debt ceiling 19 times under bush. without a peep, without a squeal. regular, standard votes. >> bill: no demands. >> no demands at all. >> bill: no unless you do this, we're going to shut it down. just 19 times. and now it is pure politics with barack obama. and i thought the president did a very good job yesterday of calling them out. we played this clip ea

ceiling. >> dealing with the white house is like dealing with a bowl of jell-o. >> can they say yes to anything? >> historic night in may brought the news that americans had been waiting nearly a decade to hear. >> tonight i can report to the american people and to the world that the united states has conducted an operation that killed osama bin laden. >> within a year he was back on the campaign trail. but on the anniversary of 9/11, a deadly terror attack in benghazi. >> make no mistake, justice will be done. >> after a long, tough campaign, americans died to give the president four more years. >> thank you, america! >> the thrill of victory cut short by searing tragedy, the day obama called the worst of his presidency. >> our hearts are broken today. these tragedies must end. >> now at the dawn of his second term, president obama has vowed to tackle the tough issues. >> there are no easy outs. >> despite the challenges that lie ahead. >> we know in our hearts that for the united states of america, the best is yet to com come. >> a long four years, in many ways. what will the next fo

face it again, you know, debt ceiling stuff, what is the republican strategy in dealing with the democrats? david. >> you know, mike, i was on capitol hill this week talking to top republicans, and i'm getting a sense and you're seeing it written about as well, that they would maybe like to step away from the brink about the debt ceiling. they do want to force the issue about how can they get this president to agree to additional spending cuts? the debt ceiling is a dangerous game. i think they recognize that politically. they'll push -- the question is how -- how do they push on the debt ceiling? do they say, look, we'll give you a short-term extension of the debt ceiling for a certain amount of spending cuts, or we'll give you a long-term extension like you want for even more spending cuts. can they force entitlement reform around medicare, for instance, even some of the -- in their view -- more limited things that the president wants to do around means testing and age and indexing to try to attach that to a debt-limit deal. do they move beyond the debt limit, try to get to the

. obama seems to be moving away from it, congress may have squabbled over the debt ceiling, but they are not going to deal with the essential problem in a meaningful way. >> i am reading a book on lbj. jack kennedy was having the same problem with congress. everything was being sidetracked, they were not going anywhere. >> that is true. i would say this, as far as what senator obama said in 2006, consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds. if there was a different attitude. we have raised the debt ceiling 70-plus times. there has always been that sense of we're not going to vote to raise the other guy's debt ceiling, but there was always the understanding that we would provide the votes in the final analysis. the president's party did that. right now, what you have is a situation where the republican party is reduced to its lowest andi in the history of "the wall street journal" poll. the only thing that is worse is john boehner. 18% favorable. this is not a formidable partner. >> over the weekend, "politico" spoke to many advisers and said house republicans and party leaders appear willing to shut down gover

, cooler heads will prevail now between now and the time we deal with the debt ceiling and we may meet the goal which we set out to do, which is to have roughly a $4 trillion cut over 10 years in the long-term deficit and to put us on that path. talk didn't come here to about any of those important subjects today, because as important as they all are today we have a more urgent and immediate call and that is how to deal with the epidemic of gun violence in america. you all know the statistics better than anyone so i'm not going to repeat them. on that score, i owe an incredible debt of gratitude to you at the head table and those of you in the room. i know we don't have unanimity in this ballroom nor do we in any ballroom, but we all acknowledge that we have to do something. we have to act. and i hope we all agree, there is a need to respond to the carnage on our streets and in our schools. i hope we all agree that mass shootings like the one we witnessed in newtown 34 days ago cannot be continued to be tolerated. that tragedy has affected the public psyche in a way i have never s

out and talked to reporters and kind of floated this idea of the short-term debt ceiling increase, and he was part of a group of five conservatives who blessed this deal on friday morning. jeb hencer ling of texas and steve of louisiana and jordan of ohio and ryan. so it remains to be seen whether that will be kind of a center of power going forward. host: as far as those five signing on to this deal, what's been talking about the members, especially on the republican side and -- will all of them go along with this? >> it's going to be tough for them, because they have to get 218 votes. the democrats have already signaled they are not going to provide any votes for this on their side of the aisle. i would say that would be so difficult for them to do when you have, you know, the last four chairman of the republicans senate committee saying they are onboard with this, it doesn't give, i mean, it seems it would be difficult for so. more ranking file members to say this is not good enough. i mean, it seems the right ones were onboard with this in a pretty significant way. >> i guess the timetables of this, where do we see next week and where do we go from t

squash internal fighting and hammer out a strategy to deal with the looming debt ceiling. melissa: chaos in algeria, the fate of dozens of hostages is unknown. some reportedly have escaped. fox news middle east analyst and lou dobbs will weigh in. first, time for stocks, let's check with the floor the new york stock exchange, nicole petallides is standing by. the dow just awful session highs, but not having a bad day. nicole: not bad at all. up about 90 points off of the highs of the day. was yesterday a fluke? we had five days of gains, gave back a little bit yesterday and back in the green again. look at the nasdaq up more than half a percent. the s&p 500, gains across the board. economic news for labour numbers and those were good, housing starts have been on the move as well, that was well above expectations. let's take a look at some of the homebuilders in particular, which have had a great run recently. tilden permits at multiyear highs. ben willis yesterday talking about optimism. there is a look at lennar. to give an idea of how well the homebuilders have run up, to put to

the debt ceiling, however you did vote for the fiscal cliff deal. do you still stand firm on the debt ceiling position? >> we, no, sir, i didn't vote for the fiscal cliff deal. i wasn't sworn in yet. but it's like we've said -- >> you said you wouldn't vote for it, if it were you. >> right. i agree. i did not say that, but i didn't vote that way. we've raised the debt ceiling seven times, and it hasn't resolved the problem. the only thing it's done is made us go more in dead. president obama yet on his news conference said raising the debt ceiling will not raise our debt ceiling. all we've raised the debt, we have to may more interest. that in it/will increase the spending. we have a spending problem in this country. that's what we need to address. >> what is your biggest bone of content with john boehner? you've been very public about the fact that you don't think his leadership is something you wanted over this new congress, you didn't vote for him to be the speaker. what is your main problem with him? >> i have no personal problems. i keep hearing that. he himself said i carry

debt ceiling deals. if we are going talk entitlements, is there room to push on the entitlements and suggest a larger social safety net, things like providing opportunities for poor children beginning to close the wealth gap is a priority. >> raise the health care law. i think it's very important to remember that law isn't fully operational, yet. there is -- yes, exactly. there's an enormous amount of work to do. there's a lot of resistance in the states. that's going to be a struggle. >> one piece of that is in 1997 we did a balanced budget deal. one thing that happened when that period of republicans and democrats came together was step back and as part of consolidating the budget, they shift resources. that was the deal. it was a deficit reduction deal. one thing it created was a children's health program. it's functioning today. it isn't the case of periods of deficit consolidation. it's not just cutting and grinding these things out. how to run a smarter government and run things into resources we need. they have to be willing to do it. >> i appreciate the notion of thinking big

forward. >> should president obama invoke the 14th amendment and make congress deal with the debt ceiling? >> i hope it does not come to that but if it has to, it must. you know we can't let extremists put us in default and play chicken with a full faith and credit with the united states of america. that's what they are. when people say let's go into default. when i hear people who are elected to congress say let's go into default. i say this person is from some other planet. this person is not from this planet. the notion that we would do that boggles the mind and the good common sense of the vast majority of americans. >> what is your perspective on america's melting pot being better reflected in small towns? what would urban leaders learn from small town mayors? >> i mean -- i think we're enriched. i know i am. my kids have grown up. i tell people my kids have been in the homes of iranians, koreans, mexicans, italians, and greeks, muslims, we're enriched when we can experience other cultures and people and other perspectives. i think you're seeing the fastest growing places of

plan to let the government borrow more money effectively raising the debt ceiling. the deal not all worked out just yet. but apparently it this will not require the spending cuts that house republicans had wanted. just released fox news poll finds that 69% favor raising the debt limit only if there are major spending cuts involved. and 23% say it's reckless not to raise it regardless. the poll also shows more than 8 in 10 think government spending is out of control. only 11% believes it's being managed carefully. mike immanuel tracking developments on the hill tonight. what's behind this house republican plan. >> bill, a lot of g.o.p. frustration has been based on the fact the senate has not passed a budget. so republicans are trying to force it house speaker john boehner told house members, quote: before there is any long-term debt alowe time for a budget to get done. >> he our hope is to pass something very early so the senate can take action as well. i wouldn't put any jeopardizing of the economy there. shows that it is a very rational, put us on a better path and i would think a

an 11th hour debt ceiling deal that sets the table for another mini crisis down the road. the federal government hit the debt limit as you know on december 31st. the treasury is using so-called extraordinary measures to pay its bills through mid-february or early march. now, fitch predicts washington will extend the debt ceiling despite the current war of words between president obama and republicans in congress. what happens if we get downgraded? it happened before. remember 2011, when standard & poor's did it. that hit markets and the wider economy hard, but it didn't cause interest rates to increase. this time could be different, however, because the rest of the world is getting its act together. even successful businesses like ford are worried. here's what ceo alan mulally told me today. >> i think the most important thing to your point is that we come together around a solution that allows us to live within our means, to reduce our budget deficits, and also to deal with our trade deficits, and create an environment where the businesses can grow in the united states. the m

made is a debt ceiling increase. but republicans will go through with those sequester cuts. >> yeah. if i could just come. jump in real quick. brian, bandy, jumping 06 of what jimmy had to say here, let's not forget, defaulting on the principle and interest obligation says separate conversation from defaulting on things to other people. say, sending out social security checks. in the context of quote unquote, defaulting on our debt, i'm with jimmy p. as well. missing an interest payment, a very low probability. >> that where some of the confusion seems to be, steve. exact lit public understanding. that why we are here at cnbc to what the risk really is. is someone not going to get their social security check? is the post office not going to be paid? what would happen first? >> brian, a lot of people don't understand because it is complicated. neither side of this depate want you to understand the reality here. on the one hand, the administration wants you to -- doesn't want you to know there are two options here. default on implications and then the other one. the republicans would

ceiling next. but not all, fitch said that problem is we never seem to get around to deals with the problem behind that mess. quoting fitch a riley, fundamental credit strengths are eroded by large studily declining structure budget deficit, and high and rising public debt. what fitch is not saying, but almost screaming is, the washington sons of fitches are doing not about it, they screamed it. after the cliff, get ready for the crash. i'm not surprised we could still be cut. i'm surprised that fitch has not already done so, john campbell said that triple a rated countries do not we behave this way. i'm surprised it has not already happened. what do you think? >> i know, i just, you know there isal this talk if we get into a big fight over trying to reduce entitlements and making a long-term solution to this, that fitch or some rating agencies may cut our credit rating at this point. if that is what they are doing, they have it backwards. what they should do is they should look at reducing our credit rating, if we don't -- if we don't make some significant change in long temp probl

reiterating he will not negotiate on the debt ceiling, even accusing republicans of an unfortunate metaphor, holding a gun at the head of the american people, as he put it. meanwhile, treasury secretary tim of the airline's the united states to default on payment as soon as mid february. for more of the president's is covered son joined by former reagan political director ed rollins, former pleasant to have clinton political adviser. let's start with the president's news conference today. the president seemed, well, you characterize it. he seemed to fill in the blank " >> i would say congeal. meaning that he tried to portray himself as reasonable and said that there was now negotiating and the debt ceiling, lesley because he is in a strong position politically in that the most would agree that the republicans are showing no signs of real life. lou: do you agree? >> i think the republicans rolled over and play dead. at this point in time they will draw a line in the sand. no believe they should shut government down, but i think this is a position where they need to make their case k

offering a debt ceiling deal rather than risk a new financial crisis. they will allow new government borrowing for three months, but they insist the senate must pass a budget within those three months. and to add more pressure to get a deal, they promise to withhold paychecks for whichever chamber, house or senate, doesn't pass a budget. >>> officials have issued a high surf advisory for the northern california coast this weekend. the good news -- that's just about perfect for 24 of the world's top surfers who are waxing down their boards for a big wave competition in half moon bay that starts on sunday. the bad news -- the other seven billion people in the world can't swim there. >>> that is the news. guys? back to you guys. >> thank you. >> you're from that area, aren't you -- >> yeah, yeah, no. i wouldn't ever surf. >> you're in the seven billion part. >> we'll be on the beach. >> yeah. >> i used to sit on half moon bay and watch it. exactly. >>> dylan dreyer has another check of the forecast. >> good morning, guys. a couple of birthdays from texas. how old are you turning? >> 12.

. so they are putting it right back on congress, you've got to deal with this debt ceiling issue and they think they can win that argument. obviously we're going to hear questions about guns. we flknow that the president's people say he is committed to the assault weapons ban, magazine ban on the magazines and also to background checks, whether or not those and other issues can get through, they don't think that there's much he can do by executive action. >> andrea mitchell, see you at 1:00. thanks for joining me. >> thanks, thomas. >>> want to take you back now to the white house. peter alexander is standing by now. now we're getting word the press conference has been pushed back to 11:40. just to give people behind the curtains look here. 11:15 and then 11:30 and now 11:40. i'm saying hi noon. >> high noon sounds good in is often the way this plays out. this morning it came as a surprise to most of the in the white house press corp. was was taking place tonight. he hadn't been given a head unthere would be a news conference with the today until just this morning. really there hasn'

and looks like republicans may be extending the debt ceiling by a few months but he still has major budget cuts to deal with this spring. do you see his relationship with republicans improving at all as they try to fix this crisis? >> it is going to be a real confrontation. the republicans did blink. that's exactly right, bianna, and said they don't want this confrontation over the debt limit, that does supposed to hit february and they are going to extend it, as he said, probably in april. the president will sign that which gives them a space to try to come up again with some kind of big budget deal before those across-the-board budget cuts hit in march, and the government is set to shut down at the end of march. there is no question that these big fiscal issues, taxes and spending are going to define the first quarter of the president's second term. >> george, talk about this term, the second term curse. we -- reagan had iran-contra. nixon, of course, had watergate. clinton had monica lewinsky. why is it that second terms tend to go sour? >> lyndon johnson didn't even make it to the second term. he had to

were threatening to vote against raising the debt ceiling. if congress didn't act by august 2, the federal government would be unable to pay its bills. >> in 2010, when all these republicans were running for congress, many of them avowed tea partiers and the rest of them riding the tea party wave, the subject of the impending debt ceiling came up frequently and virtually all of them campaigned saying... pledging not to raise the debt ceiling. >> narrator: early on, republican freshmen attended orientation sessions. republican strategist frank luntz ran one of them. >> and i asked the question, how many of you are going to vote for the debt ceiling? and only three or four of them raised their hands. and i said, if you vote for the debt ceiling, the people who put you in office are going to knock you out. >> if you vote for the debt ceiling, you're voting for your own death certificate, political death certificate. >> narrator: for his part, the president decided to try something new: personal politics. he figured he could connect to the republican leader, john boehner. >> obama told

against a debt ceiling increase and in previous aspects of american history president reagan in 1985, president george herbert walker bush, president clinton, in 1997 all signed deficit reduction deals were contingent mon or in con connection with raising the don't ceiling. you done that four times. three times related to defecit reduction and maneuvers. what chuck and i are curious about that desire not to negotiate, when that contrasts with the modern american presidents and your own history on the debt ceiling because that suggests we will go into a default situation because no one is talking to each other how to resolve this? >> no, major. i think if you look at the history, getting votes for the debt ceiling is always difficult and budgets in this town are always difficult. i went through this just last year, but what's different is we never saw a situation as we saw last year in which certain groups in congress took such an absolutist position, that we came within, a few days of defaulting. and you know, the fact of the matter is, that we have never seen the debt ceiling used in this fashion where the notion was, you know what? we might default unless we get 100% of what we want. t

proud of in that deal was not giving in to that. but at the time, the debt ceiling story had not been fully told. at the beginning of that fight, the poll was something like -- he asked the public, should the debt ceiling be raised, 85-1r5, against. the president was really on the wrong side. by the end of it, it had evened out in the polls and republicans ended up being blamed more so. and the economy was also in a more fragile position than it even is now. the president and people around him were much worried about what a default might do in terms of a financial crisis here and abroad. fast forward to now, and i think the president won the message debate. he convinced the public that playing hostage taking with the debt ceiling was the wrong thing to do. and he also now has the business community, all those people watching the vix who don't want to go through that again. he is in a much strorpg position now to take that stance that he felt back then. circumstances have made it easier for him to play this game of chicken and actually, at least, win for the next three months. >>

instance, we do not have a deal on the debt ceiling yet. we have no idea what sequestration would mean. apple is leading the market. actually gotten killed. all of these things would be told and needed to be in place in order for the market to go up and are not. i think the story here is very low expectations and investors looking at that three-year number, five-year number and saying the market is way more hospitable than i thought it would be and i need to do something different than what i've been doing all this time. >> all right. rick santelli, your take on this day. your landscape is bigger than just equities. treasury yields have been ticking up. currencies are going higher against the dollar and oil is going higher. what do you make of what's going on today? >> well, one thing just said that has a common denominator with all of those, of course, is liquefying and central bank activity whether it's bank of japan, europe, we see interest rates are up. went from 180 to testing 190. the bund violated 160, hasn't done that for a while. europe's growth is calming down and foreign exc

very, very important that congress take necessary action to raise the debt ceiling to avoid a situation where our government doesn't pay its bills. >> a number of people have expressed concern about how much of the challenges actually were addressed in the deal. as you mention it certainly went part way but it leaves another the issues still on the table, and additional negotiations and are looking. would you characterize that as an additional clip that is facing us, or do you think that it's not as concerning as it was when you raised that term initially? >> as i said, the fiscal cliff, if it was allowed to take place would have probably created a recession this year. a good bit of that has been addressed, but nevertheless we still have first fairly restricted set of fiscal policies now. it's estimated that federal fiscal policy will contract from real gdp growth something on the order of one, 1.5% visual, quite significant drag on economy. at the same time with quite a bit to do to address our long-term sustainability issues. a lot more work to do, let me be very clear about that. but it's going to be a long haul. it's not going to happen overnight. basically because the government budget represents the values and priorities of the public, and

different. we're not -- we don't have a clock on cnbc showing the days to the debt ceiling when we hit it. it just seems like the market b is getting desensitized and we figure something -- it's not going to be the deal that we thought. is that true? do we know that, that it's not going to -- you know, derail this? >> my sense is, joe, you might be back to a clock in about a month. i think the one thing we learned from the fiscal cliff was don't really pay attention to anything that comes out of washington until "d" day. >> so that is what we're doing now. we're looking at individual results. >> and i think that's actually what people want. they want to trade in the market. the nice thing about you is you're talking about earnings, you're talking about things that matter to the market right now. everyone i talk to is saying i'll deal with the debt ceiling when i get there. actually, if there was a lot on worry there, we wouldn't be going, budding up against 5 1/2 year lows. clearly, people are not paying as much attention to it right now and now we have the gun thing going on out of washington, d.c. so even the people in washington themselves are putting it almost on the back burner for another few weeks.

. the previous debt ceiling standoff, one of the issues was when would the next debt ceiling be reached, annoy, remember the republicans -- and even harry reid suggested that they do this every six months, get a temporary extension and come back in six months. at one point the republicans were proposing three extensions, three votes before the next election. and the president, meeting with his own aides about this said that's it. i'm done. i'm not doing this. this is not how the constitution was meant -- was designed. our founding fathers did not envision a day when members of congress could hold the president hostage by not paying the bills they themselves had racked up. and as often happens in these situations, the cooler heads on his staff said, well, mr. president, we understand how you feel, but we may have to cut the -- no, i'm not going to do it. he was very firm because he believed it was not just affecting him but about preserving the status of the presidency for future presidents. and in the end one of the things he was most proud of in that deal was not giving in to that. but

taxes or is there more to it. >> you look at every fight whether its fight over the debt ceiling, fight over guns, immigration, and you're going to see brutal fights. why? this is one of the most polarized congresses we've had in years. you have democrats and republicans who make up the majority occupying very conservative districts. there is very little political incentive for either party to come together and making a deal, and republicans bringing the nation to a government shut down may makes sense to them. >> john: you talked about how obama managed to drive a wedge between red state republicans and blue state republicans. is that what he's trying to do on the debt ceiling debate as well. >> you can the white house adopt a divide and conquer strategy for quite a bit of time. there are 85 house republicans who voted yes on the bill and created the margin it needed to pass. here's the interesting thing of those 85 republicans who voted yes. 70 of them came from blue states. states that voted for barack obama over mitt romney last november. in other words the white house is def

on the debt ceiling with mitch mcconnell. he was the spokesman for the gun initiative. these are high-profile roles that presidents don't have to give to vice presidents. this is how important joe biden has become in this administration. >> they clearly have an incredible relationship. gloria borger just spent some time with the vice president. gloria, if you can hear me, talk a little about what we're seeing right now. >> i think you're seeing vintage joe biden. this is the joe biden that those of us who have covered him for quite some time know pretty well. i mean, it's unvarnished. this is not his parade but he's kind of turning it into his parade. i think he knows, wolf, that this could be his last parade unless he does run again. he wouldn't commit to me one way or another. i think he's surely thinking about it. we were talking here about how fit joe biden is. for a man his age. when i was -- i interviewed him in the old executive office building on friday. look at him run. and that's how he walks down the hall at the old eob. and stops to talk to everybody. and irrepressibl

point. they lost on taxes. they are folding on the debt ceiling. they are hoping the timing will be better to deal with the sequestration with the debt ceiling but that is cosmetics. john is right. the premise of your question is right. this is a party that lost its way, lost its vision, lost its approach and the president is trying --. >>gregg: the president's approval rating is 53 percent and negative 48 percent and that is almost the lowest of any second-term president in six decades. nixon did better than that. however, look at the house of representatives republicans. they are showing disapproval rating at 73 percent. >> they have been perceived at negative, out of touch positions that are not popular. >>gregg: gay rights and tax rights? >> and they fit into the demonization they are protecting the rights of the rich. >> they do not have a pro growth agenda, creating jobs, they do not have a message. >>gregg: and the republican party is out of touch according to six in ten. five in ten, they rank poor on climate change and women's issue. >> there is a center right agenda that is solid majority of